The Hosta is a shade plant and comes in a wide variety of greens and whites. Some have leaves that are small, curly and variegated while others have wide, broad leaves and a single shade of green. Grows from spring till fall, then will die off during the winter. Hostas are great to share with family and friends. Just divide clumps in the spring and replant in good soil and they will thrive. There is not much you can do to kill off these plants. Many people will cut off the seed pod after the hosta flowers.
There are many different varieties of Hostas. You could easily create an entire Shade Garden just with Hostas. They have full color green, variegated hostas and even bluish green hostas. Find the variety you like and enjoy. You can even choose based on thin leaves or huge elephant size leaves.
Another classic cool, moist, shade loving perennial is the Fern. The fern is another beautiful plant that makes the area of the garden that is in full shade an interesting section of your yard. Like the Hosta you choose the fern based on leaf and size. You can get yourself a huge Ostrich fern or a smaller fern. You may find that ferns require more care and attention than some of the other plants in this collection. You need to keep the fern moist and you want to mist the leaves.